memeorandum: A 7-year-old told her bus driver she couldn't wake her parents. Police found them dead at home. (Cleve R. Wootson Jr./Washington Post)

6:10 PM ET, October 5, 2016

Top Items:

Michael Levenson / BostonGlobe.com:

Bill Weld says he will focus his fire on Donald Trump — The Libertarian vice presidential candidate, William F. Weld, said Tuesday that he plans to focus exclusively on blasting Donald Trump over the next five weeks, a strategic pivot aimed at denying Trump the White House and giving himself a key role in helping to rebuild the GOP.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Bill Weld, Salon, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Monmouth University:

Monmouth University Polling Institute — Ohio — Tight Race for Prez; Portman Widens Senate Lead — Kasich's anti-Trump stand still popular — West Long Branch, NJ - Hillary Clinton holds a slim 2 point lead over Donald Trump in the perennial battleground state of Ohio, compared to a 4 point lead in mid-August.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Hot Air, The Week, Politicus USA and Politico

Fairleigh Dickinson University:

VP Picks Favored More than Trump and Clinton in Fairleigh Dickinson University National Poll; — Results Put Clinton Over Trump by Double Digits — In the race for the White House, the most recent national survey of likely voters from Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind finds …

Discussion: Washington Post, Red Alert Politics, Talking Points Memo, Politicus USA and No More Mister Nice Blog

Katie Rogers / New York Times:

‘That Mexican Thing’ Takes On Life After the Debate — In the grand digital tradition of American political debates, the audience tends to seize upon singular phrases or gestures that, at least for a few hours, seem to define the evening's discussion. — After Tuesday evening's vice …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Vox, Raw Story, USA Today, Fox News, Infowars, twitchy.com, Wired, Breitbart, Business Insider, Mediaite, The Federalist, Althouse, Medium, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, CBS New York, Liberty Unyielding, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

Kaine lost the night but won the morning — It wasn't pretty, but he got the job done. — Tim Kaine's performance in last night's vice presidential debate was not always easy to watch. He interrupted the moderator and his opponent, Mike Pence, too often. His points were repetitive and occasionally came off as overly scripted.

Discussion: Slate, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, The Root and Washington Monthly

CNN:

Pence edges Kaine in VP debate instant poll — (CNN)Mike Pence scored a narrow win over Tim Kaine in the vice presidential debate Tuesday night, according to a CNN/ORC instant poll, with 48% of voters who watched the debate saying Pence did the better job while 42% think Kaine had the best night.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, WBAY-TV, Shakesville, The Times of Israel, NPR, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, Infowars, Hot Air, Washington Examiner, Independent Journal Review, National Review, Media Matters for America and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Tara Golshan / Vox:

How the Clinton campaign is making #ThatMexicanThing a thing, explained — Sen. Tim Kaine made a point during the vice presidential debate of reminding the American public of that time Donald Trump called Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers. — “He started his campaign with a speech …

Discussion: CNN, TheBlaze.com, Little Green Footballs and Advocate

Margaret Hartmann / New York Magazine:

Libertarian VP Candidate Bill Weld Gives Up, Will Focus on Preventing Trump Presidency — As some presumably small portion of Americans sat through a dull debate between the Republican and Democratic vice presidential nominees on Tuesday night, a far more interesting drama was unfolding within the Libertarian ticket.

Discussion: Jezebel, Hit & Run, Towleroad, New Urban Legends and The Week

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
The Mike Pence vs. Tim Kaine vice-presidential debate transcript, annotated

LeftOfCenter / Latest from Crooks and Liars:
He-Men Of Fox News: Emasculated Because Kaine Said ‘Person’

Discussion: The Nation

David Weigel / Washington Post:
Aftermath of Kaine-Pence debate pits reality against alternate reality

Discussion: Guardian, Politico, New York Times, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit and Mother Jones

David Frum / The Atlantic: Mike Pence Pretends That Trump Never Happened

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
Can Mike Pence's Denial of Reality Work for Him?

Discussion: Washington Post, USA Today and Politico

Washington Post:
Mike Pence struggles to defend the indefensible

Discussion: Hillary Clinton 2016, New York Times, BuzzFeed, Talking Points Memo, Chicago Tribune, CNNMoney, CNN, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Media Matters for America, Hit & Run, Vox and Mashable

Ezra Klein / Vox:
Reports suggest Donald Trump is unhappy with Mike Pence for winning the VP debate

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, New York Times, Salon, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, RT, WRIC-TV, AOL, Hullabaloo, RedState and alan.com

Philip Elliott / TIME:
Why Mike Pence Didn't Defend Donald Trump

Discussion: Business Insider

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:
RNC: Kaine interrupted over 70 times

Discussion: Politico, BuzzFeed, ABC News, Mediaite, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Scared Monkeys, Business Insider, Washington Free Beacon, AOL and FiveThirtyEight

Henry C. Jackson / Politico:
6 things Trump definitely said that Pence claimed he didn't

Discussion: alan.com, The Atlantic, CNN, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Media Matters for America, The Week, Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, AOL, Vox and Guardian

Steven Shepard / Politico:
Insiders: Pence outclassed Trump

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, neo-neocon, Mediaite, The Week, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Vox, ThinkProgress, ABC News, 24Ahead and Hot Air

New York Times:

N.S.A. Contractor Arrested in Possible New Theft of Secrets — WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. secretly arrested a National Security Agency contractor in recent weeks and is investigating whether he stole and disclosed highly classified computer codes developed to hack into the networks of foreign governments …

Luke O'Neil / Esquire:

This Racist Fox News Video Is, Uh, Pretty Racist — Are we still perpetuating Asian stereotypes in 2016? — Last night, CBS' Elaine Quijano became the first Asian-American journalist to moderate a national debate. The journalist's ethnicity might not be newsworthy …

Discussion: The Federalist and Daily Kos

Libby Nelson / Vox:
Fox News fit an impressive number of offensive Asian stereotypes into 5 minutes

Discussion: Media Matters for America, The Atlantic, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, The Diplomat, Independent Journal Review, Mediaite and TVNewser

Dylan Byers / CNNMoney:
Fox News not commenting on Jesse Watters' controversial Chinatown segment

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Jezebel and Hot Air

Paul Cheung / Asian American Journalists Association:
AAJA demands an apology for racist and offensive Fox News segment on Chinese American voters in Chinatown

Discussion: NBC News, Fox News, Mother Jones, Media Matters for America and Mediaite

Hadas Gold / Politico:
Asian American groups slam Fox News ‘Watters World’ segment on Chinatown

Discussion: ThinkProgress, NBC News and Mediaite

CNN:

Trump took Polaroids, interviewed models in 1994 Playboy video — One video depicts Trump photographing fully clothed models with a Polaroid camera and conducting an interview with a potential Playmate — One of the models Trump interviewed told CNN: “I thought he was thoughtful.

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Mediaite

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
WATCH: Megyn Kelly Reminds Conway Why Trump Polls Poorly With Women

Discussion: The Week

Callum Borchers / Washington Post:
Donald Trump sniped at Megyn Kelly as the vice presidential debate began

Discussion: Daily Kos, WJHL, Politicus USA, USA TODAY College, BizPac Review, New York Magazine, Vox, NPR, Joe.My.God., Mashable and WAVY-TV

New York Daily News:

Pennsylvania couple found dead from suspected drug overdoses after 7-year-old daughter alerts school — A Pennsylvania couple was found dead in their home from suspected drug overdoses after their 7-year-old daughter told school officials she couldn't wake them up.

Discussion: WPXI-TV, AOL, The Daily Caller, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Althouse

Cleve R. Wootson Jr. / Washington Post:
A 7-year-old told her bus driver she couldn't wake her parents. Police found them dead at home.

Discussion: Independent Journal Review, Fox News Insider, Hot Air, KTLA, New York's PIX11 and Associated Press

The Atlantic:

Against Donald Trump … In october of 1860, James Russell Lowell, the founding editor of The Atlantic, warned in these pages about the perishability of the great American democratic experiment if citizens (at the time, white, male citizens) were to cease taking seriously their franchise:

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Indianapolis Star:

State Police raid Indy office in growing voter fraud case — Indiana State Police investigators on Tuesday searched a voter registration agency on Indianapolis' north side as they look into a voter fraud case that spans nine counties. — The investigation began in late August when police learned …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Intercept, The American Mirror, Daily Kos, Fox 59 and electionlawblog.org

Jacob Sullum / Hit & Run:

Federal Judge Overturns Ban on Openly Carrying Guns in Public — In a quintuple victory for Second Amendment rights, a federal judge last week overturned a ban on carrying handguns in public, a ban on so-called assault weapons, caliber restrictions for long guns, a $1,000 tax on handguns …

Discussion: Bearing Arms

Sarah Wheaton / Politico:
NRA out with biggest ad buy yet to boost Trump

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, Media Matters for America and New York Magazine

Michelle Fields / The Huffington Post:

Conservative News Darling Is Falling Apart, Staff Says — Glenn Beck's The Blaze was once the envy of other right-leaning sites. Not anymore. — WASHINGTON Glenn Beck's website The Blaze is coming apart, suffering from a lack of editorial direction, staff attrition and internal discord, according to sources inside the news outlet.

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

Al Gore to campaign for Clinton, hoping to galvanize young voters on climate change — Former vice president Al Gore will start campaigning for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, according to individuals briefed on the plan, in an effort to mobilize young voters who see climate change as a key issue.

Discussion: New Republic, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, The Week and Talking Points Memo

Daniel Strauss / Politico:
Al Gore to hit campaign trail for Clinton

Discussion: Vox, New York Magazine, RedState, Towleroad and Daily Wire

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Momentum shifts in battle for Senate — Democrats are seizing on Sen. Kelly Ayotte — 's (R-N.H.) remarks at a debate that Donald Trump — is “absolutely” a role model for children as a pivotal moment in the race for the Senate majority. — The Democrats see Ayotte's comments …

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and alan.com

Josh Barro / Business Insider:

Here's the best theory we've seen of how Trump paid so little tax — At a rally Tuesday in Arizona, Donald Trump sought to blame Hillary Clinton for his own low tax bills. He asked: — “After years of failure, she complains about how I've used tax laws of this country to my benefit.

Discussion: Hullabaloo and bradford-delong.com